WEBVTT - Can We Talk About the D*ck Pics? 0:00:05.360 --> 0:00:07.800 What's that? Andrew? Oh hey, Gandhi, oh hey, what do 0:00:07.840 --> 0:00:08.640 you sound so happy? 0:00:09.000 --> 0:00:11.119 Just because you know it's another episode of sauce on 0:00:11.160 --> 0:00:11.520 the side. 0:00:11.600 --> 0:00:14.000 I know, but it's so misleading. So if people don't 0:00:14.000 --> 0:00:15.560 know you and they just hear you on the show, 0:00:15.600 --> 0:00:17.159 you sound like this happy. Oh my god, I'm so 0:00:17.280 --> 0:00:20.560 loving and amazing, and people who know you one get 0:00:20.560 --> 0:00:23.759 a different voice and two that's all I have to 0:00:23.760 --> 0:00:24.319 say about you. 0:00:25.079 --> 0:00:28.560 Well, what a lovely day it is. It's all Wednesday, folks. 0:00:28.840 --> 0:00:32.519 Welcome back this week is Joe Kim Booster. He's a 0:00:32.560 --> 0:00:35.600 comedian and has the new Netflix special Outstanding, and. 0:00:35.560 --> 0:00:37.560 I got to see a preview of it. It's actually 0:00:37.600 --> 0:00:41.640 pretty cool. It's all about the queer community and how 0:00:41.800 --> 0:00:44.239 stand up has worked for them, how they've worked with 0:00:44.280 --> 0:00:46.520 stand up, and how things have changed over the years. 0:00:47.080 --> 0:00:49.600 Are we allowed to say queer community because for some 0:00:49.680 --> 0:00:52.800 reason it feels like I shouldn't. However, that's the easiest 0:00:52.840 --> 0:00:57.520 way to refer to LGBTQIA. Plus that community, right is 0:00:57.520 --> 0:00:59.720 the queer community. And all of my friends who are 0:00:59.760 --> 0:01:02.200 part of it say queer community. They seem to have 0:01:02.200 --> 0:01:03.800 no issue with me saying it. But something about it 0:01:03.800 --> 0:01:05.680 feels weird, you know, like there are words that are 0:01:05.720 --> 0:01:08.240 not bad. Yeah, but then when you say it, you 0:01:08.280 --> 0:01:09.520 feel like you're saying it the wrong way. 0:01:09.560 --> 0:01:09.880 I get you. 0:01:10.080 --> 0:01:10.760 I don't know what to do. 0:01:10.880 --> 0:01:11.039 Yeah. 0:01:11.080 --> 0:01:12.479 Should I ask him? Or you think you'll get mad? 0:01:12.680 --> 0:01:14.280 Ummm? Let's try it. 0:01:14.360 --> 0:01:15.720 Do we know anything about him? Is nice? 0:01:15.760 --> 0:01:16.600 Yeah? Very nice? 0:01:16.640 --> 0:01:17.080 How do you know? 0:01:17.200 --> 0:01:17.800 Do you know him? 0:01:18.040 --> 0:01:20.240 What are you saying this stuff to me? I? Should 0:01:20.240 --> 0:01:21.000 we just get right to it. 0:01:21.120 --> 0:01:21.640 Let's get to it. 0:01:21.680 --> 0:01:27.080 Alright, he's here, let's go all right, Joel Kim Booster. 0:01:27.280 --> 0:01:29.240 I'm so excited to have you here. Thank you so 0:01:29.319 --> 0:01:31.039 much for having me, Thank you for coming in. I 0:01:31.040 --> 0:01:33.520 feel so honored because you have a lot of stuff 0:01:33.560 --> 0:01:35.760 going on right now. I just watched your stand up 0:01:35.760 --> 0:01:37.959 special on Netflix, which is a couple of years old, right, 0:01:38.840 --> 0:01:41.480 two years old. And I watched a documentary that you 0:01:41.760 --> 0:01:44.920 are a big part of, called Outstanding, which is perfect 0:01:44.920 --> 0:01:48.280 for June, all about Pride and it's about stand up comics. 0:01:48.080 --> 0:01:51.200 The history of stand up comedy. Yeah, yeah, from a 0:01:51.200 --> 0:01:53.720 lot of different angles. I am a very small part 0:01:53.760 --> 0:01:56.880 of that tapestry of our history, but I'm very honored 0:01:56.880 --> 0:02:00.600 to be included in the doc but yeah, really it's 0:02:00.640 --> 0:02:01.560 so comprehensive. 0:02:01.640 --> 0:02:04.520 It really covers everything from really like. 0:02:04.560 --> 0:02:09.799 The first like Robin Tyler legends, oh yeah, the first 0:02:09.960 --> 0:02:12.440 out gay person to have a late night stand up 0:02:12.440 --> 0:02:15.720 comedy set, and it goes all the way through my generation. 0:02:16.040 --> 0:02:18.919 And it was incredible watching the evolution and how much 0:02:18.960 --> 0:02:21.880 things have changed. But there was one line specifically that 0:02:21.960 --> 0:02:24.600 really got me. It was when Robin Tyler was talking 0:02:24.600 --> 0:02:28.600 about humor being an important part of the movement in general. 0:02:29.000 --> 0:02:30.520 Do we still feel that that's the case. 0:02:31.160 --> 0:02:34.919 Yeah, I think humor is still hugely important because humor 0:02:34.960 --> 0:02:38.519 is so disarming, you know. I think humor can really 0:02:38.560 --> 0:02:42.200 take a person out of themselves in a way, because 0:02:42.639 --> 0:02:44.760 you know, the sort of the genesis of a laugh 0:02:44.880 --> 0:02:48.880 is like surprise, you know, like it's it's an involuntary response. 0:02:48.520 --> 0:02:50.360 In a lot of ways. And I think. 0:02:52.040 --> 0:02:56.720 That's really helpful when you're trying to a sort of 0:02:56.760 --> 0:02:59.600 humanize yourself to people who might not see you as 0:02:59.639 --> 0:03:03.320 human and be change people's minds a little bit, or 0:03:03.840 --> 0:03:06.959 at least sort of get them into a headspace where 0:03:07.000 --> 0:03:12.480 they're willing to, you know, engage with ideas beyond their own. 0:03:12.800 --> 0:03:16.200 How do you feel it is right now navigating making 0:03:16.280 --> 0:03:18.799 other people laugh. Is it difficult? 0:03:19.880 --> 0:03:20.680 No, I listen. 0:03:20.760 --> 0:03:23.200 I don't know if it's any more difficult than it 0:03:23.400 --> 0:03:25.760 has been in any other point in human history. I 0:03:25.800 --> 0:03:28.920 think that what's happened is there's a lot of things 0:03:28.919 --> 0:03:31.480 that have changed, Like the Internet has changed things, certainly. 0:03:31.520 --> 0:03:35.040 I think that there's a lot of people who are 0:03:35.080 --> 0:03:38.360 exposed to a lot of like, you know, memes have 0:03:38.400 --> 0:03:42.160 actually really changed comedy because it's there's a lot of 0:03:42.200 --> 0:03:45.240 like first thought, jokes are now disseminated as memes, okay, 0:03:45.280 --> 0:03:47.840 And so then as a comic, you go out on stage, 0:03:47.920 --> 0:03:51.280 you can't say the joke that has just been the 0:03:51.320 --> 0:03:54.520 circulated meme. You have to go a little bit ahead 0:03:54.560 --> 0:03:56.920 of where the audience is. That's the challenge of being 0:03:57.000 --> 0:03:59.400 a comic is you have to be ahead of the audience. 0:03:59.440 --> 0:04:03.800 If someone a lay person, say, can make the joke 0:04:03.920 --> 0:04:06.320 or has shared the joke on Twitter, then you have 0:04:06.400 --> 0:04:08.680 to make a better joke. I don't think there's anything 0:04:08.680 --> 0:04:10.720 off limits that you can say. I think you just 0:04:10.720 --> 0:04:12.040 have at the end of the day, it just has 0:04:12.120 --> 0:04:15.240 to be funny enough, and you're never gonna make everybody laugh, 0:04:15.360 --> 0:04:17.240 but you know what you have to worry about is 0:04:17.279 --> 0:04:21.200 the audience in front of you that night live on stage. 0:04:21.480 --> 0:04:24.159 Do you feel safe on stage for the most part, 0:04:24.240 --> 0:04:27.040 you know, Will Smith's lap, Chris Rock, Dave Chappelle got 0:04:27.080 --> 0:04:29.440 attacked by that guy recently. I was watching somebody who 0:04:29.480 --> 0:04:31.360 got into a little Twitter war with someone else and 0:04:31.640 --> 0:04:33.800 left a comment about his three month old son. The 0:04:33.839 --> 0:04:35.560 guy showed up at the show and punched down. 0:04:35.680 --> 0:04:35.880 Yeah. 0:04:35.960 --> 0:04:39.040 No, listen, I listen. I've had a beer bottle thrown 0:04:39.080 --> 0:04:43.520 at me on stage. I've experienced heckler's. Luckily, I've never 0:04:43.560 --> 0:04:46.000 experienced a heckler when the rest of the audience wasn't 0:04:46.040 --> 0:04:49.680 on my side. It's usually just like one random crazy 0:04:49.760 --> 0:04:53.120 person or someone who you know didn't realize I was 0:04:53.160 --> 0:04:54.400 the one who's going to be performing that. 0:04:54.480 --> 0:04:57.800 Night, or a bachelorette party. This is my thing with that. 0:04:57.960 --> 0:05:00.640 I do not understand why you, as a bachelor lorette, 0:05:01.080 --> 0:05:03.719 would want to go on a night that is about you, 0:05:03.920 --> 0:05:06.560 that is all about you, would go to an event 0:05:07.040 --> 0:05:10.919 where it's actually about me. Now, babe, you know, like 0:05:11.360 --> 0:05:13.280 I get that, you want to be the center of attention, 0:05:13.760 --> 0:05:15.560 So go to a place where you can be the 0:05:15.600 --> 0:05:18.839 center of attention. Not where everyone else is literally paid 0:05:18.880 --> 0:05:21.640 to pay attention to someone else. It doesn't make any 0:05:21.680 --> 0:05:25.680 sense to me. But no, like every comic is going 0:05:25.720 --> 0:05:28.400 to experience and push back in some form or another, 0:05:29.480 --> 0:05:32.360 and you know, some of it's scarier than others. But 0:05:32.480 --> 0:05:36.360 I think that, like, I don't know, man, sometimes comics 0:05:36.440 --> 0:05:39.240 really like to like put themselves up on the cross 0:05:39.279 --> 0:05:41.640 and act like this job is way harder than it is. 0:05:41.680 --> 0:05:45.159 And it's just like, if you are funny enough, it's 0:05:45.279 --> 0:05:47.760 not going to be a big issue. 0:05:48.000 --> 0:05:50.520 So let's talk about that bottle that got thrown at you. 0:05:51.400 --> 0:05:53.200 Was it in response to a joke or was it 0:05:53.240 --> 0:05:54.960 just drunk assholes in the it was? 0:05:55.200 --> 0:05:56.640 I mean it was a little bit of both. I was. 0:05:56.839 --> 0:05:59.360 It was in Vancouver, actually, which is one Canadian I 0:05:59.400 --> 0:06:02.279 know that can even supposed to be friendly. 0:06:03.760 --> 0:06:06.839 But no, it was clearly it was like these two 0:06:07.000 --> 0:06:10.920 like bikers and their wives. And this was at a 0:06:10.920 --> 0:06:12.640 point in my career too where I was headlining, but 0:06:12.720 --> 0:06:15.840 like I wasn't well known. This was people who had 0:06:15.880 --> 0:06:18.440 no idea who I was. They were just coming to 0:06:18.480 --> 0:06:21.880 the comedy club that weekend and these people just like 0:06:22.000 --> 0:06:27.239 clearly were not prepped to see someone like me on stage, 0:06:27.800 --> 0:06:30.560 and I remember they came out and like, within the 0:06:30.560 --> 0:06:32.120 first couple of minutes I sat, they were just like 0:06:32.200 --> 0:06:35.920 talking clearly, like not please. I at one point went 0:06:35.960 --> 0:06:37.800 over and interrupted them and I was like, I can't 0:06:37.800 --> 0:06:39.520 tell if you hate me because I'm gay or because 0:06:39.560 --> 0:06:40.599 I'm Asian, Like which. 0:06:40.400 --> 0:06:41.680 One is it? Like is it both? 0:06:42.200 --> 0:06:45.120 And just trying to like, you know, break the tension 0:06:45.160 --> 0:06:47.120 a little bit with that corner because they were talking 0:06:47.200 --> 0:06:49.840 in a way everyone in the audience could hear, and 0:06:49.920 --> 0:06:52.520 so their wives were immediately like no, no, no, no, no, we're 0:06:52.520 --> 0:06:54.000 not like that. We're not like that way. I promised 0:06:54.000 --> 0:06:57.960 to promise, I promise, but the husbands were giving very much. 0:06:57.800 --> 0:06:58.840 The thing we are. 0:06:59.200 --> 0:07:01.280 Yeah, the rest of the audience was into it, but 0:07:01.360 --> 0:07:03.400 like it was so distracting and so finally I was like, 0:07:04.080 --> 0:07:08.160 you guys have to either head out or shut up. 0:07:08.600 --> 0:07:11.760 And that's when it all started. And then security had 0:07:11.800 --> 0:07:13.680 to come and as they were being you know, kicked 0:07:13.680 --> 0:07:15.640 out of the show, one of the guys chucked a 0:07:15.640 --> 0:07:20.440 beer bottle at me as he was exiting the theater 0:07:20.880 --> 0:07:24.000 and it was great. I mean it missed me by 0:07:24.080 --> 0:07:25.680 a long drive. I think, Thank god he had been 0:07:25.720 --> 0:07:27.920 drinking several beers that night. I think his aim was 0:07:27.960 --> 0:07:31.200 a little bit off the MLB. He is not primed for. 0:07:31.560 --> 0:07:35.080 But yeah, and then one of the security guys said, like, 0:07:35.080 --> 0:07:37.000 I'd be careful, they're waiting for you outside. 0:07:37.160 --> 0:07:37.360 Oh. 0:07:37.440 --> 0:07:40.640 Luckily though, the club was at the bottom of the hotel, 0:07:40.880 --> 0:07:43.920 so I didn't have to leave the club at all. 0:07:43.960 --> 0:07:45.280 I hope they didn't wait too long. 0:07:45.400 --> 0:07:47.720 So you were talking about people not being used to 0:07:47.720 --> 0:07:49.640 seeing someone like you, and you did point out you 0:07:49.680 --> 0:07:52.800 are queer and you are Asian? Is it South Korean? 0:07:53.160 --> 0:07:53.360 Yeah? 0:07:53.560 --> 0:07:58.400 Okay, how did you get into comedy being Asian? Because 0:07:58.480 --> 0:08:03.040 I too am Asian South and you know that's not 0:08:03.080 --> 0:08:05.480 necessarily our forte. We're getting there, But how does this 0:08:05.640 --> 0:08:07.920 I have a feeling that somewhere some parents were disappointed. 0:08:07.960 --> 0:08:09.640 And I know you adopted by white people. 0:08:09.680 --> 0:08:12.800 Yes, yes, yes, my parents are evangelical, so they were adopted. 0:08:12.960 --> 0:08:16.080 They were disappointed for different reasons. 0:08:16.120 --> 0:08:17.280 Are listen. 0:08:17.320 --> 0:08:19.240 I started stand up like anybody else, started stand up 0:08:19.240 --> 0:08:22.400 like I started going. I did a one off show, 0:08:22.720 --> 0:08:25.680 tried it for the first time, did five minutes, did 0:08:25.720 --> 0:08:29.040 really well and got it, got hooked. And then you know, 0:08:29.240 --> 0:08:31.480 after that first time doing really well. There were many 0:08:31.480 --> 0:08:33.840 bombs that followed, but as I figured it out, but 0:08:34.200 --> 0:08:35.440 I just started going to open mics. 0:08:35.440 --> 0:08:37.720 I started in Chicago. I did the open mic scene there. 0:08:37.760 --> 0:08:40.160 I did some you know a lot of alt rooms 0:08:40.200 --> 0:08:42.199 there too as well as I was like figuring it out, 0:08:42.240 --> 0:08:44.520 and then moved to New York and dove right in. 0:08:44.600 --> 0:08:47.520 And you know, I was just like a lot of people. 0:08:47.600 --> 0:08:49.600 I worked like a fifty hour week day job, and 0:08:49.640 --> 0:08:51.160 then as soon as I was done at my job, 0:08:51.160 --> 0:08:53.040 I would go to the open mics, hit up as 0:08:53.040 --> 0:08:55.560 many open mics as I could until you know, midnight, 0:08:55.559 --> 0:08:56.280 one am. 0:08:56.080 --> 0:08:57.280 And then do it all over again. 0:08:57.360 --> 0:08:58.280 What was the day job? 0:08:58.640 --> 0:09:01.240 The day job I worked into so I was an 0:09:01.440 --> 0:09:04.680 early my first job out of college. I worked at groupon. Okay, 0:09:04.760 --> 0:09:06.360 I was like a temp. I started as a temp. 0:09:06.440 --> 0:09:08.880 I was like the seventy second employee of Groupon before 0:09:09.400 --> 0:09:11.400 you know, as they were getting huge. But it was 0:09:11.440 --> 0:09:13.520 also like really intense because you're working out a startup 0:09:13.559 --> 0:09:14.400 and so everything could. 0:09:14.240 --> 0:09:17.640 Fall apart at any moment. Health insurance, yeah, no, I mean 0:09:17.640 --> 0:09:18.839 that was the big thing is that I had. 0:09:18.880 --> 0:09:21.400 I was in such deep student loan debt and I 0:09:21.480 --> 0:09:23.839 had to and I had health issues that I needed 0:09:23.880 --> 0:09:24.559 health insurance for. 0:09:24.720 --> 0:09:26.840 So I was glued to my day job for so 0:09:26.920 --> 0:09:29.880 much longer than I wish I then I really wanted 0:09:29.920 --> 0:09:30.199 to be. 0:09:30.320 --> 0:09:32.160 I was paying more in student loan payments than I 0:09:32.200 --> 0:09:34.720 wasn't rent until I paid off my loss. 0:09:34.840 --> 0:09:38.160 Wild Yeah. So at this point now you've left a 0:09:38.160 --> 0:09:40.960 lot behind and stand up is one what you're doing. 0:09:41.000 --> 0:09:42.160 Obviously you're writing. 0:09:41.880 --> 0:09:44.040 Too, yeah, writing and acting and things. 0:09:44.160 --> 0:09:47.320 It's it's the weird like paradox of being successful as 0:09:47.320 --> 0:09:49.000 a stand up is the more successful as a stand 0:09:49.080 --> 0:09:50.600 up you get, the more you asked to do every 0:09:50.760 --> 0:09:51.680 everything but stand up. 0:09:51.679 --> 0:09:53.240 They're like, can you write? Can you act? Can you 0:09:53.280 --> 0:09:55.680 do this? Let's try this? You know, and it's funny 0:09:55.760 --> 0:09:57.080 you have less and less time for it. 0:09:57.160 --> 0:09:57.719 Do you like it? 0:09:58.000 --> 0:09:58.560 Oh? Yeah, no? 0:09:58.640 --> 0:10:02.920 I love I love writing, I love performing, I love acting, 0:10:03.040 --> 0:10:03.760 I love stand up. 0:10:03.760 --> 0:10:04.280 I love it all. 0:10:04.360 --> 0:10:07.360 It's all different little parts of my brain. So it's 0:10:07.480 --> 0:10:09.439 nice to get stimulated in different ways. 0:10:09.720 --> 0:10:12.040 So you are part of a show called Lout. 0:10:12.240 --> 0:10:15.120 Yes, right, so lou It's a it's a comedy on 0:10:15.120 --> 0:10:16.440 Apple starring Maya Rudolph. 0:10:17.120 --> 0:10:19.559 I auditioned the part. The breakdown for it was like. 0:10:21.640 --> 0:10:26.960 Snarky, like gay Asian assistant from the Midwest, and I 0:10:27.040 --> 0:10:29.440 was like, well, if I don't book this, then I 0:10:29.480 --> 0:10:33.520 need to rethink my future in Hollywood. And it's funny 0:10:33.559 --> 0:10:36.600 because one of the creators of Lut, Matt Hubbard, had 0:10:36.600 --> 0:10:40.520 written on Sunnyside, which was a short lived NBC sitcom 0:10:40.559 --> 0:10:43.560 that I started in with cal Pen that was has 0:10:43.559 --> 0:10:48.040 the distinction of being the lowest rated premiere in NBC history. 0:10:48.400 --> 0:10:52.400 So I'm part of history, thank you very much because 0:10:52.440 --> 0:10:53.920 of that show. Matt wrote on that show and he 0:10:53.960 --> 0:10:55.680 worked with me and he saw me on that show 0:10:55.679 --> 0:10:57.240 and he was like, I really like that guy, like 0:10:57.240 --> 0:11:00.800 his vibe, and they sort of wrote the character based 0:11:00.800 --> 0:11:03.280 on my vibe. And it wasn't a sure thing, like 0:11:03.280 --> 0:11:05.080 I still need to audition, but it was one of 0:11:05.080 --> 0:11:07.040 those things where they were like, all he needs to 0:11:07.040 --> 0:11:08.120 do is nail this audition. 0:11:08.600 --> 0:11:11.160 So when you go to audition for roles, do you 0:11:11.280 --> 0:11:15.160 feel like it's tougher to get a main character as 0:11:15.440 --> 0:11:19.600 a queer Asian person versus you know, straight white whomever. 0:11:19.760 --> 0:11:21.800 Because I feel like when you look at a lot 0:11:21.880 --> 0:11:25.840 of TV productions, movie productions, there is diversity, but the 0:11:25.840 --> 0:11:28.320 diversity is always the sasy k friend no no, or 0:11:28.480 --> 0:11:30.800 you know, the diva attitude best friend. It's always the 0:11:30.880 --> 0:11:33.480 side character, not necessarily the main as much. 0:11:33.720 --> 0:11:36.560 That's absolutely correct, and I think that's why, like, you know, 0:11:36.600 --> 0:11:39.360 we talk so much about diversity on screen, but I 0:11:39.400 --> 0:11:43.160 think the almost more importantly the push should be for 0:11:43.240 --> 0:11:48.480 diversity behind the camera, because when you don't have diverse creators, 0:11:48.920 --> 0:11:54.079 diverse producers, diverse execs green lighting these shows, you're only 0:11:54.120 --> 0:11:56.640 going to be left with sort of these one dimensional 0:11:56.720 --> 0:11:58.880 side characters. And that's what we're going to be given, 0:11:59.000 --> 0:12:01.200 you know. And I think like for me, I wrote 0:12:01.760 --> 0:12:04.200 a movie called Fire Island that I started with Bow 0:12:04.200 --> 0:12:06.920 and Yang, and for me, that was a huge part 0:12:06.960 --> 0:12:08.960 of that was bone And I get called in all 0:12:09.000 --> 0:12:12.000 the time to be these like best friend characters or 0:12:12.240 --> 0:12:15.920 side characters or whatever, and rarely would we a get 0:12:15.960 --> 0:12:18.920 cast as leads and be get cast in a movie 0:12:18.960 --> 0:12:23.480 together because it's like, oh, to two Gaysian guys, Yeah, exactly, 0:12:24.280 --> 0:12:26.400 the position has been filled. And so I made a 0:12:26.400 --> 0:12:30.040 movie with actually four of us, you know, four queer 0:12:30.120 --> 0:12:33.360 Asian performers. And if I wait around for Hollywood to 0:12:33.640 --> 0:12:35.880 make a movie like this, a movie where I get 0:12:35.880 --> 0:12:37.680 to start with. One of my best friends, who happens 0:12:37.720 --> 0:12:42.160 to be check some of the same demographic checkboxes is me. 0:12:42.559 --> 0:12:44.680 I will be waiting forever, so I have to do 0:12:44.760 --> 0:12:47.920 it myself. I like that though, that diversity is almost 0:12:47.960 --> 0:12:50.160 the most important diversity to have right now. 0:12:50.320 --> 0:12:52.800 But back to you, because I'm fascinated by you. So 0:12:52.840 --> 0:12:55.920 you're adopted by two white parents in the middle of 0:12:55.960 --> 0:12:57.840 the country. 0:12:57.160 --> 0:12:58.000 Right outside of Chicago. 0:12:58.080 --> 0:12:59.760 Yeah, right outside suburbs. 0:12:59.800 --> 0:13:03.960 Yeah, okay. And is it true that they basically found 0:13:03.960 --> 0:13:05.959 out that you were gay because they read your diary? 0:13:06.040 --> 0:13:08.040 Yes? Journal, I'm a boy journal. 0:13:08.080 --> 0:13:13.040 I'm sorry, journal, How dare I they read your journal? 0:13:13.360 --> 0:13:14.760 First of all, I have a question, where was that 0:13:14.840 --> 0:13:17.319 journal stash under the mattress? They looked under your map? 0:13:17.400 --> 0:13:18.679 Did they go looking forward or it was just. 0:13:18.640 --> 0:13:21.400 That she was My mom was absolutely looking forward, she 0:13:21.400 --> 0:13:23.080 claimed she was, and she claimed she was just cleaning 0:13:23.160 --> 0:13:26.520 my room. And I was like, how how messy was 0:13:26.559 --> 0:13:27.199 it under the. 0:13:27.160 --> 0:13:29.360 Mattress that you had to go under there? 0:13:29.720 --> 0:13:31.440 Because like at this point, I had been out for 0:13:31.480 --> 0:13:34.520 a year at school, and you also a little bit 0:13:34.520 --> 0:13:36.959 of background, like I was homeschooled until my junior year 0:13:36.960 --> 0:13:37.640 of high school. 0:13:38.400 --> 0:13:39.960 They sent me to public school. 0:13:40.880 --> 0:13:44.920 I mean, it was crazy. It's it's it's it's really isolating. 0:13:44.960 --> 0:13:47.600 It's strange. I mean, especially when you're in an uber 0:13:47.760 --> 0:13:53.280 religious household. You know, you're very everything is is, you're 0:13:53.320 --> 0:13:56.079 protected from everything, you're shielded from everything, you're held back 0:13:56.080 --> 0:13:58.440 from everything. And then they sent me to the public school, 0:13:58.440 --> 0:14:00.319 and it suddenly I have all this freedom, and it's like, 0:14:00.360 --> 0:14:03.360 you can't keep a sixteen year old under lock and 0:14:03.440 --> 0:14:05.720 key their entire life and then send them out into 0:14:05.760 --> 0:14:08.400 the world and not expect them to go a little crazy. 0:14:08.480 --> 0:14:10.720 Like within the first month of going to public school, 0:14:10.760 --> 0:14:12.520 I came out of the closet. I drank for the 0:14:12.520 --> 0:14:14.680 first time. I smoked weed for the first time. I 0:14:14.679 --> 0:14:16.720 hooked up for the first time. I did it all 0:14:16.800 --> 0:14:20.800 baby like. It was like every fear they ever had 0:14:20.840 --> 0:14:22.920 about sending me to public school, they were right. 0:14:23.080 --> 0:14:26.080 It's exactly how I picture it working. When somebody's homeschooled 0:14:26.120 --> 0:14:27.720 until they're sixteen or seventeen, or even if they go 0:14:27.760 --> 0:14:28.920 all the way through high school and then they go 0:14:29.000 --> 0:14:31.520 to college, I'm like, oh, this is about to get curged. 0:14:31.280 --> 0:14:33.600 Right exactly. I mean, yeah, normally you see that with 0:14:33.720 --> 0:14:35.560 kids who go to college. You know, for the first 0:14:35.600 --> 0:14:38.440 time they could sense that, like I was definitely living 0:14:38.440 --> 0:14:41.560 a double life. Like I and I you know, was 0:14:41.680 --> 0:14:43.840 very open outside of the home, and then I'd come 0:14:43.880 --> 0:14:46.720 home and I'd have to be this completely different person. 0:14:46.800 --> 0:14:50.440 And it was really I was. I was Handam Montana. 0:14:50.600 --> 0:14:53.080 You know, I was living a double life. 0:14:53.480 --> 0:14:55.880 Well, let me tell you that's actually very Asian South 0:14:55.920 --> 0:14:58.520 and East. I did the same thing. I still kind 0:14:58.520 --> 0:14:59.840 of do the same thing. The only thing that's ruined 0:14:59.960 --> 0:15:01.800 is now my parents can listen to the show, right 0:15:01.840 --> 0:15:03.880 and now they're like, what does that mean? What did 0:15:03.880 --> 0:15:06.280 you really do that. I'm like, damn it, go back 0:15:06.320 --> 0:15:08.160 to hating my job and not listen to anything. It 0:15:08.200 --> 0:15:11.320 was much better that way. So they were looking for it. 0:15:11.360 --> 0:15:12.240 We think they found it. 0:15:12.480 --> 0:15:13.040 I looked they were. 0:15:13.400 --> 0:15:17.840 They were definitely wanted to kind of confirm that, you know, 0:15:18.080 --> 0:15:20.800 I wasn't I was out there doing things that I 0:15:20.800 --> 0:15:23.840 don't know if they for sure, you know, suspected that 0:15:23.960 --> 0:15:29.520 I was gay. I mean, listen, it wasn't exactly a 0:15:29.960 --> 0:15:32.400 it was it was fairly evident. I would say it 0:15:32.440 --> 0:15:37.080 was like, you know, I read pretty gay, and I 0:15:37.120 --> 0:15:39.880 have since I was a child. But yeah, and they 0:15:39.880 --> 0:15:42.720 read my journal. I ended up moving out at seventeen, 0:15:43.640 --> 0:15:45.920 didn't talk to them again until I was in college, 0:15:46.160 --> 0:15:50.280 and it was it was a lot, But I will 0:15:50.280 --> 0:15:52.240 say the thing is that I'm grateful to them for 0:15:52.400 --> 0:15:54.280 is that, like I haven't taken a dime from my 0:15:54.320 --> 0:15:56.880 parents since I was seventeen, and that I think is 0:15:57.000 --> 0:16:01.760 probably the most formative thing about who I am as 0:16:01.760 --> 0:16:05.320 a person today. You know, we're you know, the relationship, 0:16:05.320 --> 0:16:08.400 we mended a lot of things over the years, sence, 0:16:08.520 --> 0:16:10.600 you know, this is a long time ago now. But 0:16:11.040 --> 0:16:15.160 the fact that I sort of, you know, said I don't. 0:16:14.920 --> 0:16:17.000 Need your support to do this. 0:16:18.520 --> 0:16:22.360 Is why I think I I attributed a lot of 0:16:22.400 --> 0:16:24.920 my success to that is because I know how to work, 0:16:24.920 --> 0:16:26.320 I know how to hustle, and I know how to 0:16:26.320 --> 0:16:28.360 take care of myself, and there was no safety net 0:16:28.360 --> 0:16:31.480 for me in this business. Like I was like, I 0:16:31.720 --> 0:16:35.720 have to be a success in this industry because there 0:16:35.840 --> 0:16:39.040 aren't any other options for me, Like no one else 0:16:39.080 --> 0:16:39.800 is paying my rent. 0:16:40.120 --> 0:16:42.360 I don't understand how this is not a TV show 0:16:42.360 --> 0:16:44.640 in itself. What do you mean with you? 0:16:44.640 --> 0:16:44.800 You? 0:16:45.040 --> 0:16:48.160 I mean your entire story growing up a queer Asian 0:16:48.280 --> 0:16:50.800 homeschool kid going to public school for the first time 0:16:50.800 --> 0:16:53.160 outside of Chicago. I mean, for the love of God 0:16:53.280 --> 0:16:53.920 that you. 0:16:53.920 --> 0:16:54.480 Know, it's funny. 0:16:54.560 --> 0:16:56.760 The first pilot I ever sold to Fox and then 0:16:56.800 --> 0:16:59.760 Comedy Central was very much about that part of my 0:16:59.800 --> 0:17:04.040 life life. And then it you know, again, diversity in 0:17:04.440 --> 0:17:05.679 the executive suite. 0:17:06.359 --> 0:17:08.440 It didn't end up going it developed. It was in. 0:17:08.400 --> 0:17:12.479 Development health for a long time, and then there were 0:17:12.520 --> 0:17:15.760 a lot of notes and then at the time it 0:17:15.840 --> 0:17:18.240 was like they already had an Asian show. You know, 0:17:19.280 --> 0:17:21.159 there is this mentality in the industry a lot of 0:17:21.160 --> 0:17:22.920 time that there can only be one. It's like one 0:17:23.280 --> 0:17:26.280 and done. You know, like why in the world, how 0:17:26.320 --> 0:17:31.760 could there possibly be more different experiences for an Asian person? 0:17:31.880 --> 0:17:34.399 You know, like we have the one experience already on 0:17:34.440 --> 0:17:36.600 the network. We don't there's certainly that has to be 0:17:36.680 --> 0:17:42.680 it right and shocker, there is a wealth, a plethora, 0:17:42.800 --> 0:17:48.159 a plurality of different experiences for our communities. And that 0:17:48.280 --> 0:17:51.959 is really the frustrating part about I think being in 0:17:52.000 --> 0:17:55.399 this position of being representatives of the community is like 0:17:55.440 --> 0:17:59.080